Christmas Memories
by jackandsamforever
Summary: Red takes Liz to a place that holds many memories for him; some happy, some sad. Will Liz being there help heal his heart? Written for the Facebook Secret Santa exchange for tmmachado.


**AN: This is for tmmachado for the Facebook Secret Santa exchange. So sorry this is late, and nothing like you requested, but I hope you enjoy it regardless. Thanks for reading! :)**

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><p>Liz rubbed her hands together in an attempt to warm them as she walked next to Red down a bustling street in downtown DC. They had just wrapped up a case, and Red had unexpectedly asked her to take a walk with him. It had been the last thing she wanted to do, but there was something in his face, some emotion she didn't recognize, that had finally convinced her to go along with whatever he had up his sleeve.<p>

The only problem was that she was freezing cold. She hadn't planned on staying in the cold long term, and only had a coat and nothing else to ward off the bitter air permeating the city. She glanced enviously at Red's warm attire from the corner of her eye and sighed quietly. He didn't look cold, the bastard.

She blew in her hands then stuffed them in her pockets before looking at him again. "Red, I'm freezing. Where are we going?"

He stopped and eyed her chattering teeth and red nose with narrowed eyes, then without a word slipped his coat off and put it around her shoulders, then removed his gloves and handed them to her. After she reluctantly slid her arms inside the coat and put the gloves on, he finally spoke. "Humor me, Lizzie. Not much further."

Liz inwardly rolled her eyes and looked at him closer. He looked upset, almost sad; far and away from how he was only an hour ago. She didn't understand the change.

Red turned to continue walking, but she reached out a hand and brushed his forearm to stop him. "What's wrong?"

He looked away from her and stared up at the sky, which was just beginning to spit out snowflakes, a few of them landing on his long eyelashes. She watched his Adam's apple bob once, then in a voice that sounded choked with emotion, he said, "I haven't been in DC during Christmastime for years."

When he didn't elaborate, she stepped closer. "Okaaay?"

He finally looked at her and smiled a little. "Just trust me, not too much longer." He took hold of her elbow and propelled her towards his destination once again without another word.

She went along reluctantly and threaded her arm through his to help stave off the cold wind. It seemed his coat and gloves still weren't enough to keep her warm, and she wondered how he didn't seem to feel the cold dressed in only his shirtsleeves and vest.

He hugged her arm closer to his body, maneuvering them around harried looking people looking to get to the next store on their list, and picked up their pace as the snow began to come down harder as it started to stick to the sidewalk and street.

OOOOOO

They walked in silence, each lost in their own thoughts, until the city's ice skating rink came into view. Liz couldn't hold back the small gasp that escaped her lips at the sight. She hadn't ever had a chance to make it to this part of the city during past Christmases; of course she had heard about it, but she never imagined it would be like this. It looked like a winter wonderland; something right out of one of those picturesque Christmas cards that her friends sent to her every year. Multicolored Christmas lights were strung up in every tree, around every railing, in every plant surrounding the frozen pond in the center that was filled with people of all ages. While the largest Christmas Tree she had ever seen in her lifetime stood guard next to the rink, it's lights twinkling as far up as she could see.

Liz smiled widely, completely forgetting for a moment that she was freezing cold and standing next to a criminal who was still as ambiguous to her as the day they first met. Forgetting that she had married a man whose entire life was a lie and didn't love her, forgetting that she was thirty-one and divorced without any children.

She let go of Red's arm and stepped up to the railing, watching as a little girl zoomed past while giggling loudly, her parents yelling at her from far behind to be careful. A little boy trying to keep his balance as he slowly moved around the edge, hanging on to the railing for dear life. A teenager trying to text while skating and almost falling flat on his face.

Liz laughed out loud and turned to point the teen out to Red, but froze when she saw the expression on his face. He looked like he was about to cry; legitimate tears filling up his eyes. She frowned and tried to get him to look at her. When he didn't make eye contact, she sighed. "Seriously, Red, what's going on?"

He blinked back tears and tried to smile while still staring sightlessly out at the skaters. "Do you really want to know?"

She rolled her eyes and leaned her forearms against the railing, facing away from him. "Of course I do, now spit it out."

He bit the inside of his cheek and joined her at the railing, but kept his hands in his pockets; belatedly she remembered that she was wearing his gloves. "Every Christmas Eve, my wife and I would bring Jennifer here to ice skate. She would beg and beg us until we relented." He swallowed noisily and continued, "The only reason she knew about it was because she saw it on TV. She was enchanted by the Christmas tree. She said it looked magical, like a tree made in the North Pole." He smiled sadly, his voice rising in humor at the memory, but he quickly sobered. "The last time we came here was the year before everything went to hell. Jennifer tried..." He trailed off, unable to continue.

When he didn't say anything more for a few moments, Liz sidled up to him and slid her arm around his waist, pulling him tightly against her side. "I'm sorry, Red."

He kept his face averted from hers, trying to hide how emotional he was, and by the time he turned to look at her his eyes were dry. He nodded and put his arm around her shoulders. "Me too, Lizzie, me too. I felt like I needed to come here one last time, for closure, and I didn't..." He closed his eyes and continued, "Want to come alone."

She squeezed his side with her fingers, wishing she could help him more. As much as she couldn't stand him half the time, she couldn't help but care more than she would ever admit to anyone. "Well, thank you for dragging me here then."

When he didn't answer, they stood in silence with their arms around each other, watching the skaters move past them.

Suddenly Liz pulled away from him and grabbed his hand. "Let's go skating."

He stood his ground and grimaced. "Lizzie, I didn't come here to do that."

She tugged on his cold hand again. "Come on, maybe it'll help take your mind off of things. Besides, this is something I've always wanted to try." She smiled at him again and started dragging him towards the entrance.

He acquiesced reluctantly and let her lead him towards the ticket booth. He insisted on paying, then they sat down on a nearby bench and put their skates on. Liz stood up a little wobbly and watched him tie his remaining skate. When he noticed her staring, he quirked an eyebrow in question. She began to unzip his coat. "Let me give you your coat back, you look cold."

He stood up a little slowly and grabbed the hand that was unzipping the coat. "No, I'm fine. Keep it. I have my hat to keep me warm."

He smiled, temporarily masking the pain in his eyes, at her dubious look and adjusted the black beanie further down to cover his ears. "If you say so." She couldn't help but smile at she secretly admired how good he looked in that particular hat.

"I do."

Instead of arguing with him further, she hooked her elbow through his and led him towards the entrance. They were both unsteady, so she rationalized that she was only being clingy with him because she didn't want to fall, not because she liked touching him or felt like she needed to comfort him.

When they reached the ice, she tentatively put one skate on the ice and it immediately slid forward. If she hadn't been holding on to him, she would have fallen on her behind. She laughed, embarrassed, and let him pull her back up to his side.

"Are you sure about this, Lizzie?" He sounded nervous, but when she looked at him, he only looked skeptical.

She smiled and stuck her foot on the ice again, this time a little more sure. When she had both feet on the ice and was still standing, she let go of his arm and turned her head to look at him. He was eyeing the ice like it was a puzzle that needed to be solved. She slid her feet forward to make room for him, then turned carefully to watch him.

When he saw her staring, his shoulders heaved in a silent sigh as he too took a step forward onto the ice. She shouldn't have been surprised to see that he had no problem whatsoever transitioning onto the slippery surface. She'd noticed in the past that he was athletic, if only in the way he moved.

Some people had all the luck, because she was an awkward duck.

Once they were both on the ice, they stood there staring at each other. The look on his face was puzzling, but before she could ask him about it, the wind was knocked out of her as someone slammed into her from behind, knocking her into Red, and skated off with a hasty apology. She didn't hear it though because she was too busy trying to breathe as she clung to Red. He wrapped his arms around her and rubbed his hands up and down her spine as she gasped for air against the soft cotton of his shirt.

With tears streaming down her face a few moments later, she finally pushed away from him and tried to smile.

"Did you see who it was?" She asked.

He shook his head and bit the inside of his cheek. "I was too busy trying to keep my balance. Are you ok?"

She nodded a little shakily and wiped her face with his coat, then reached forward to grab his hand. "I'm fine now, come on, let's go before we get run over again."

She carefully skated past him and tugged on his hand before he could argue. He could have stood his ground, it wasn't as if she was pulling all that hard, but he didn't want to disappoint her; he couldn't.

He turned and laced their fingers together, then took the lead and pulled her after him as they joined the fray of skaters. She was still wobbly on the skates, but after a few laps she confidently caught up to him and skated next to him side by side, never releasing his hand in the process.

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye and saw that she was smiling widely, almost childlike. She hadn't smiled like that in as long as he could remember; it made him feel warm inside in a place where he hadn't felt warm in a very long time.

After another half hour, it was announced that the rink was closing in five minutes. Liz's smile dimmed somewhat, but didn't fade completely as they made their way towards the entrance to change back into their shoes.

Once they had their shoes on and turned their skates in, she wrapped her arm around his and smiled up at him. "Thank you for indulging me."

A smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "No, thank _you_. You made me forget for a few minutes about how much I miss my daughter. I never thought that would be possible."

She didn't say anything more, but wrapped her fingers more tightly around his bicep as they walked back towards her car. She didn't need to say anything. He knew she understood.

When they reached her car, she saw that Dembe was waiting for Red with the back door of his Mercedes held open.

Red led her over to her own car and opened the driver's side door then closed it after she slid in. She turned it on and rolled the window down as Red rested his arm against the top and leaned down to look at her. She smiled at him. "Thanks for dragging me down there, Red. I wouldn't have known what I was missing out on. And...thank you for sharing that story about your daughter."

He nodded and patted her shoulder. "Thank you for listening to me, it's...difficult to speak about her most of the time. I had a wonderful time."

"I did too," she said, ducking her head a little.

He moved to leave, but she stopped him with a hand on his cheek, her fingers soft against his stubbly cheek. Before he could open his mough, she leaned forward and pecked him on the side of his mouth, her lips soft and warm, then pulled away before he could respond.

"Night, Red," she whispered as she avoided looking at him, and all he wanted to do was lean forward and return the favor, but he knew he couldn't push too hard too fast.

Instead, he nodded and reached forward to trail the back of his index finger down her jaw softly. "Goodnight, sweetheart."

He moved back and watched as she rolled the window up and drove away, belatedly remembering that she hadn't returned his coat or gloves. Oh well, he could get them tomorrow.

He stuck his hands in his pockets to warm his frozen fingers and walked slowly towards Dembe. The bodyguard patted him on the shoulder when he reached him. "You look better, my friend."

Red nodded as he slid into the car, and before Dembe closed the door he said, "I am, Dembe, I am."


End file.
